Over At The Merlotte's Bar and Grill
by DixonVixen93
Summary: Season Three AU: Merlotte's was a place that you could meet virtually anyone. Whether this was a good or a bad thing? Well, the jury was still out on that. Crossover with The Cape.


**Hey new fandom! This is a crossover with NBC's short-lived series "The Cape", though it isn't necessary to have read it. **

**Sookie meets a human couple during one of her night shifts at Merlotte's. Said couple gets a little confused when a vampire comes into Merlotte's, especially when since he looks painfully familiar. (Non-Cape fans won't know that James Frain, who played Franklin Mott in True Blood, also starred as the major antagonist in The Cape.) AU of Franklin's introduction in S3.**

_**Over At The Merlotte's Bar and Grill**_

Sookie Stackhouse enjoyed her job, for the most part. She had friends there, (and also people that wanted her dead, but that was another story.) Working as a waitress meant that she had to be around the public all the time. She greeted them with a broad smile and that cute little accent of hers, and hoped for the best.

The fact that she could read everyone's mind was a downside, however. If there was ever a reason why Sookie hated her job, it was that she could hear exactly what her customers were thinking. It was a blessing when the vampires came in; she could actually wait on them and not have to worry about hearing their every waking thought as she walked by.

Sookie stood over at the bar, talking to her best friend Tara Thorton. They had been dead for the last few hours; just the occasional customer would come in for a beer and a sandwich. Her childhood friend leaned on the bar with both of her elbows supporting her weight. This wasn't a fun night at _all_. Hell, not even any cute guys came in to see them!

"Sookie, Imma smack Sam here in a minute," Tara grumbled into her hand, eyes locking with the blonde waitress.

"Why? What'd Sam do?" Sookie asked, finally getting off of her feet to sit down on the barstool across from her best friend.

"Let us stay open when _obviously_ we ain't doing jack shit," the bartender rolled her eyes back in the direction of their boss' office. "Go flaunt your lilly-white ass back there; maybe he'll let us go home…"

While Tara was mid-rant, a couple came into the diner. The man had a tight grip on the girl's waist, and she didn't seem to mind. He was much taller than her, with curly blonde hair and clear blue eyes. His partner had wavy brunette hair that traveled just down to her breasts. They looked to both servers, who just looked back at each other before going back to work.

"Hey there," Sookie introduced, her thick Louisiana accent growing thicker as she smiled back at the couple. "How can I help ya?"

"We just started moving into the area and now we're hungry," the man answered, giving his partner a billion-watt smile. She, in turn, just smacked him and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we _are_ new to Bon Temps, and we haven't had a chance to unpack most of the kitchen things. And," the brunette looked around the vacant diner, "it looks like we came at just the right time."

Sookie smiled at the obviously younger woman and led them over to one of the booths against the windows. As the couple sat across from each other, the waitress darted away to grab their silverware and menus.

Tara smirked at her best friend as she bolted back over to the table. Maybe she'd get lucky and they'd both order beers or something. That was if the chick was old enough for one… how old _was _she?

The closer Sookie got back to the table, the more she started hearing their thoughts. The guy—Vince Faraday, and his wife Jamie had just moved to the area after he was reassigned to a station in Louisiana. Neither one of them wanted to leave their home in California, but they didn't decide it, the military did.

The waitress took their drink orders, which ended up disappointing Tara to no end. C'mon, not even a _shot_? Sookie's childhood friend just went back to wiping off the bar, looking for any imaginary spills that she might have missed the first five-thousand wipes.

Vince grabbed his wife's hands from across the table and kissed each of her knuckles gently. "Well, at least we've got some of the unpacking done," he whispered over to her, giving her an easy smile.

"Yeah, but, when we get back home, I'm crashing," Jamie smiled back at her husband, taking her free hand to gently massage her temples.

"Headaches coming back?" the blonde solider asked, stroking his thumb against the back of his wife's hand. His voice was laced with concern.

The brunette just nodded, trying to give him another smile, though failing miserably. "I'll be okay. That's why I say that I'm going to bed as soon as we get back home." Jamie had debilitating headaches that lasted from days to even weeks. Sometimes, rarely, though, she would get one that lasted for longer. They ran in her family; something that she didn't like to talk about was that both of her parents suffered from a mental illness. The brunette just naturally got headaches that came in waves.

Sookie winced as she continued to eavesdrop in the minds of her customers. Tara stared at her, knowing exactly what she was up to.

"I thought you didn't like readin' people, Sook," the bartender teased, invading the blonde's concentration.

"Huh? I—Tara! Don't be talkin' like that out loud!" the mind-reading waitress chided fervently.

The two women were startled out of their conversation not even a moment later. This time, though, a man came in by himself. He had dark hair that stuck up in odd places, boot-cut blue jeans and a buttoned up shirt. Tara and Sookie, once again, looked back at each other. The man boldly came up to the bar and sat down on a barstool, sparing both women a charming smile.

"Um, hi," Sookie began, clearing her throat as she realized that they were dealing with a vampire. She couldn't read his thoughts, at _all._ "Can I get you an O neg?"

The man spared them another charming smile, his eyes lingering with Tara's for a little too long, according to her best friend. "That would be lovely," he told the blonde, not yet taking his eyes off of the bartender. He had a heavy British accent that clung to every word.

Tara sent Sookie another glance as she went to get an O neg for their undead customer. In the meantime, the darker woman just stared at the vampire before her. He was _really_ starting to give her those weird belly rumblings. How in the hell did Sookie interact with vamps so _calmly_?

"And may I ask a lovely young woman such as yourself for her name?" the vampire asked, finally breaking the silence that clung to the air.

She just snorted, raising an eyebrow back at him. "Do you know how many times a night I get that?" The bartender sighed at the man that was just staring back at her blankly. She guessed that men, whether alive or dead, couldn't take a joke even if it grabbed their balls and took them for a joyride… "I'm Tara."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Tara. My name is Franklin Mott," he told her, his fangs extending in response. Before the human could respond, Sookie had already come back with his drink.

"Here ya go, mister, one O neg," the blonde waitress spoke as she plopped the drink down and went back over to her table, who were talking in hushed whispers, darting their heads back at Franklin every now and then.

Jamie squeezed her husband's hand and looked up at Sookie, sparing her a smile. Vince shook his head as he tried to think about anything but his father-in-law coming in to check on them. The vampire, of course, wasn't his father-in-law, but he sure as hell looked like he was.

"How are ya'll doing?" their waitress asked politely. She had already been by once before to bring them their drinks and jot down their meal orders, which they were currently waiting on. Sookie noticed the way that the couple was looking back at Franklin. Curiously, she asked, "do you know each other?"

The brunette and her husband shared equally confused glances, before they realized that they were talking about the Peter Fleming-look-a-like.

"I think that my father is trying to sneak up on us. But that's… odd," Jamie wrinkled her nose, taking a sip of her coffee. "He's never done this before."

Sookie frowned in the general direction of her best friend and the vampire that was obviously trying to hit on her. She knew that her customers must have been mistaking him for someone _human_. It might be interesting to see how this would play out, so the waitress refused to say anything.

Vince pecked at his wife's lips and held his hand out for her as she slid out of the booth."Only one way to find out, right?" The couple headed over to the bar, where Franklin was still trying to woo Tara over.

"Dad?" Jamie called out as she came up to her father's look-a-like. She should have known that it wasn't him just by looking at his attire. The boots _alone_ would have said everything.

Franklin turned around, baring his fangs for all to see. The brunette girl jumped back visibly at the sight. Her husband just wrapped his arms around her waist as she backed up against him.

"Do you _mind_?" the vampire asked, his tone heavy with annoyance. "Unless, of course, you want to join me and the fair lady over here," he sneered, sending her a look that made her want to gag. "I'm no one's father, but—"

Jamie held up a free hand in disgust. "No thank you. I clearly thought you were someone else. My husband and I are new to Bon Temps." Franklin's fingers curled inward at the thought of rejection. He was going to try to make it through this time; he had to make a good impression on Tara, after all.

Welcome to Bon Temps, Louisiana; no matter where you went, you would never know_ who_ you would run into.

"No one normal lives here," Tara piped up, throwing her rag up in the air out of sheer boredom, "ya'll best run far, far away if ya got a problem with seeing just… just about anything."

Jamie had to smirk at that. Her life had been far from normal since childhood. Her father was a psychopath with a split personality disorder, and mother stayed in bed all day with nightmares and headaches. If anyone knew how to accept the unfamiliar, it was her.

"Tara, stop scaring the customers away," Sookie began, playfully nudging her in the arm. "I at least wanna get tipped tonight," she added in a murmur, winking back at her best friend before going to grab the tray of food that was waiting in the kitchen.

The bartender shrugged and turned her attention back to Franklin, who was actually pretty good at distracting her. Maybe Sam would come out of his office to see her flirting with a vamp. She would get yelled at, but hell, she had to do something to make work interesting tonight!

Oh, how terrible a mistake she was making…

**There we go. Now, does this interest you guys to go see what the heck I'm talking about? By all means, go ahead and watch The Cape! Reviews are loved. **


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